Apocryphal New Testament Writings

An early Christian writings is considered in this survey if it is mentioned by name,
or quoted from in a "scriptural" context by one of the
Early Christian Authorities.
For a visual summary of the opinions of the writings see the
Cross Reference Table.
Here is a summary of information on the 19 writings included:

Four of the above writings -- I Clement, Epistle of Barnabas, Didache, Shepherd of Hermas --
are part of the collection called the
Apostolic Fathers.
English translations of them can be found in other books in addition to
[LHH].
The other Apostolic Fathers are not in this survey because they were not mentioned
in a scriptural context by any of the Early Christian Authorities.

Two of the above writings - Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth -
are part of the Nag Hammadi library.
English translations of all these writings can be found in
[Robinson].
The other Nag Hammadi writings are not in this survey because they were not mentioned
in a scriptural context by any of the Early Christian Authorities.

There are other apocryphal New Testament writings that are not in the scope of this survey
because they were not mentioned by name by an early authority,
or because any allusions or quotations were not sufficiently explicit, in my opinion.
A writing almost included is
The Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.
It was considered scripture by the Syrian Fathers -
Aphraat (~340 CE) and Ephraem (d. 373 CE).
Curiously, it forms part of the composite
Acts of Paul,
but neither writing was included in the Syrian Church's version
of the Bible - the Peshitta.
Some other examples are:
The Protoevangelium of James,
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas,
The Gospel of Nicodemus,
The Acts of Peter,
The Letters of Christ and Abgar,
The Apocalypse of Paul,
etc.
For much longer lists see
[Schneemelcher] ,
[Elliot], the
Noncanonical Homepage, and
Early Christian Writings.

Pages created by Glenn Davis, 1997-2010.
For additions, corrections, and comments send e-mail to
gdavis@ntcanon.org